The Secret Life of Danny Williams
by Dreamwind1
Summary: -SLASH- Summary: Everyone knows who Danny Williams is. He's McGarrett's partner, a Detective of Five-0, a Jersey boy and a haole. That's all he is. Right? Wrong. What no one knows is that he is also a famous writer.
1. Prologue

**The Secret Life of Danny Williams**  
**Author: **dreamwind83  
**Beta:**  
**Pairing:** Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams, past Danny "Danno" Williams/Rachel Williams, Rachel Edwards/Stan Edwards  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** Season 1  
**Warnings:** AU  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any version of the Hawaii Five-O (2010) series. I make no profit from this work of fiction.

**Summary:** Everyone knows who Danny Williams is. He's McGarrett's partner, a Detective of Five-0, a Jersey boy and a haole. That's all he is. Right? Wrong. What no one knows is that he is also a famous writer.

**Prologue**

Danny Williams hadn't always wanted to be a cop. Sure there was the childhood fantasy of being of cop, chasing down bad guys and saving the day. But the dream had faded away with adolescence, placed on a back burner in his mind along with zoo keeper, professional baseball player and football star. He had dreamed about being each of those at one time or another, had even tried for a while to become a baseball and football star. He had been good at baseball, fast and nimble enough to chase down the ball and with good enough accuracy to send the ball anywhere on the field. Football he had been great at. He was small enough to squeeze between larger players, strong enough to bowl them over and fast enough to outrun them. His grip had been sure and it was a rare thing that he wasn't able to catch a pass. For almost three years he had thought he would be a professional football player. He had earned a football scholarship to several colleges and if it hadn't been for one bad play in the final game of the season, the game that made them state champs, he would have achieved that dream. Instead he had gone to college and gotten a degree in criminal justice.

It hadn't been his most recent dream of the future but once he started in at the police academy, he had felt as if he had finally reached the place he was supposed to be. He breezed through the academy and his first beat. He had seen things that inspired him and that horrified him. It was the later that brought about one greater change to his future. It had been his first case as a Detective and he had been sure he had seen the worst that humanity had to offer, but as he had quickly realized what he had seen so far was merely the tip of the iceberg. For weeks after he had been unable to sleep, woken by nightmares and fears out of the deep dark corners of his mind. Eventually his partner at the time had pulled him aside and talked to him. Trying to get Danny to find a way that was comfortable to him, to talk about what he saw so that he could lay those fears aside. Danny hadn't liked the thought of talking to a stranger and he didn't want to lay this burden on his father or younger brother's shoulders. So for a while he did nothing, lost as to what course to take until one day he came to the office and saw a leather journal sitting on his desk. Glancing at his partner, who was calmly drinking his morning cup of coffee, Danny had asked about the journal only to be told that if he couldn't trust someone else with his problems then he should just write them down and get them out of his head.

He had eventually taken that advice and started to write down what he had seen and heard that day, what plagued his dreams and the fears that came from it. Still he was nervous about someone finding the journal. So, thinking himself rather devious, he had bought a second journal and started to write everything down in the format of a series of short stories based in a fantasy world. After a time he had felt almost possessed by the characters and the world he had created, feeling compelled to write longer and longer stories for them.

And then one day his world had changed again. His sister Katie had found one of his story journals. He had come back to his apartment to find her sitting in his favorite recliner, a half eaten sandwich on the table beside her, and reading through the journal. He had panicked and tried to grab the book from her hands only to have her pull it back and away from him. Eventually he had found out that she had stumbled upon the journals by accident one day when she had come by to drop off some leftovers from their mother. Since then she had been digging through his things to read more.

Danny had been surprised by how much she had loved his stories. He had never thought them to be all that good, but his sister who was on her first job as an editor, had told him how incorrect he was. That the series he had created was by far one of the best fantasy series she had seen in years. After nearly a month of coming home to find her in his apartment reading the journals and arguing with him about how good they were, she finally convinced him to let her bring them to her office to see if they could be published. Danny had only given in because he was sure they never would.

Oh how wrong he was.

Katie had come back to his home with a bottle of wine and a case filled with her white chocolate crème brulee, and told him that her boss had loved the stories and that they would be published. Danny had balked at that, trying to back out only to have his sister tell him everything had already been taken care of. She had set it up so that everything would be published under a pseudonym. No one would ever know that W.J. Daniels was really Detective Danny Williams of Hoboken New Jersey. And so the first collection of short stories in Danny's New Jersey Paranormal Crimes Division series was published. Like his sister, a lot of people read the books, giving them good reviews and writing to the publisher asking for more, for longer books. And so each year his sister would bring one of the older journals in to her office to be published and he would be flooded with fan letters and gifts.

Danny was always surprised by the number of letters he received and by the words written inside. But it wasn't until he met his Rachel that the series really went big time. The introduction of a love interest for the main characters partner, Will, seemed to spark something in his fans. Many of them loved the new added dimension to the series while others bemoaned the loss of the unresolved sexual tension between the older detective and his young partner. The number of fans who had thought that Danny was leading to the two cops falling into bed together surprised him and for almost a week after he found himself blushing every time he looked at his partner, the man who had inspired the main character. His sister had laughed at his naiveté and had introduced him to the world of fanfiction, which had caused many more embarrassing blushes and inappropriate erections. Eventually Danny's partner had figured out the truth. Apparently he had been a fan of the series and had noticed some similarities between the books and the cases they worked. His partner, Alberto had been amused by the whole thing and had shrugged off any weirdness caused by the revelation that fans were "shipping" the two of them.

Danny had never been more grateful to have Alberto for a partner.

Danny's relationship with Rachel had continued to grow after the car accident that had brought them together and Danny had never been happier. His life felt like a whirlwind of pleasure, long nights of writing, fantasizing, and the stress of the job. But it hadn't mattered. He felt like nothing could pull him out of the clouds, because for the first time since that disastrous tackle that tore his ACL and ruined any chance at playing pro football, Danny was truly happy. He had a job he loved, a hobby that was earning him extra income, and a gorgeous woman who loved him.

His life had never been better.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**August 2007; Newark, New Jersey**

If you asked Danny Williams what the happiest day of his life was he would tell you it was the day his daughter was born. And if you asked him what the worst day of his life was, up until today, he would have told you it was the day he tore his ACL and ruined any chance at playing pro football. Today though, he would tell you today was the worst day of his life. Because today was the day he learned that his wife was cheating on him. Had, in fact, been cheating on him for almost two years.

Walking into his home to grab some lunch between cases, he had not been prepared to find the front door unlocked or to hear the sounds of grunting and whimpering cries coming from upstairs. He had drawn his weapon worried that his wife, who should have been at work, may have come home and been caught by an attempted burglary. Slowly he made his way upstairs to where the noises were coming from. He paused outside their bedroom, his heart hammering in his chest as the sounds became clearer and he realized that his first thought was wrong. So very wrong. Those were not sounds of pain coming from behind the door. That was the sound of his wife making love. Making love with someone who was not him.

Bile rising in the back of his throat, Danny had pushed the door open and nearly fired his gun into the back of the man atop his wife, pounding her into the mattress. Instead he had screamed at them, "What the fuck are you doing?"

The man had jerked to a stop and nearly fell off the bed as he twisted around to see Danny standing in the doorway, eyes blazing with fury and betrayal, gun gripped in a white knuckled hold at his side.

"I don't care who you are but you have ten seconds to get the fuck out of my house before I shoot you and take you in for rape," growled Danny.

The man flicked his gaze to Rachel who was calmly sitting up in the bed, watching Danny with surprisingly cold eyes. She nodded slightly at the man, who moved around the room in a rush to grab his clothes before trying to run past Danny, who was still glaring at his wife.

"What the hell, Rachel? Who the fuck was that and why is he in my house? In my bed with my wife!"

"Do not use that language with me, Daniel."

"Rachel-"

"I am tired of this Daniel. I am tired of you not being home for dinner. Tired of waiting to get a call telling me you've been shot, that you're dead. Tired of pretending that I'm happy."

Danny felt his jaw drop and a cold weight settle around his heart. Until this moment he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with their marriage. He had thought they were happy. Both his wife and he had jobs they loved. Danny had his second job as a writer, something he had never told Rachel since she had some kind of strange dislike of sci-fi and fantasy novels. So he had a second income in a second bank account and at least half of the money was being put aside for his daughter's college fund. There would be enough for her to be put through school long enough to get a doctorate in just about any field she wanted.

"I don't understand. Rachel, I thought…"

"You thought what, Daniel? You always think but do you ever think about me? About what I want? Of what I feel? About what your daughter feels? What am I supposed to tell her when the day finally comes that you die in the line of duty? Tell me."

Danny looked down at the gun in his hand, at the possibilities that lay within it and flinched, holstering the gun. He couldn't face such a betrayal as this while he was holding his weapon. No matter how much her betrayal cut him to his core he couldn't shot her. He couldn't hurt the mother of his child.

"That was a good enough reason for this? You can honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you having sex with a stranger in our marriage bed is just because you are worried about me? How does that even work, Rachel? How can you look at me while you're sitting there covered in the fluids of some man whore you picked up and tell me that it's acceptable because you were fucking tired!"

For a long moment Rachel just looked at him, her eyes still glacier cold, before she let out a deep weary sigh. "I can't do this anymore, Daniel. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"Sorry I had to find out what, Rachel? That you can't keep it outta your pants? That you're willing to bed anything, anyone? In our home? In our bed? Across the hall from our daughters room? Fuck Rachel, what if it had been Grace coming home from school? What would you have told her? Would you have told her it was okay to cheat on me because I'm a cop? Because I _risk my life_ to make sure this city is safe for her? For you?"

"Stop it, Daniel. Just…just shut up." Rachel looked up at him and for a moment Danny thought there might have been tears in her eyes. "I'm filling for divorce, Danny."

Shaking with emotion, Danny glared at her, at the woman he loved. The woman who had been his muse for over eight years now. "Get out. Get your things and get outta my house."

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed Rachel stood, letting the sheet slide off, revealing her nude body. Danny flinched again at the sight of her obvious betrayal of their vows. Rachel took no notice, or if she did she didn't seem to care. Calmly she pulled on her rumpled clothes, grabbed her work case and headed over to Danny. "I'll be back for Grace and my things."

"Grace is staying here. I'm not letting her go with you where she'll be exposed to your reprehensible behavior. I'll not have our daughter growing up to be such a callus bitch."

For the first time Rachel flinched, unable to hold his gaze in the face of the emotions so obvious in his eyes. She had loved him once, perhaps not as strongly as she should have. If she had, perhaps it wouldn't have come to this. Without another word she turned and walked out of the room, out of the house, and for a short while, out of his life.

- - - H50 - - -

Within two days everyone in his family knew what had happened. Three days after that most of the detectives in Homicide knew as well. As if Rachel's act of betrayal wasn't enough to push him to drink the constant sympathies and pitying looks was certainly enough to do so. Alberto had taken him for the first drink and alongside Matt, had pulled him away from countless bottles after. Danny knew he could have become an alcoholic easily from the whole thing if he didn't have Grace to worry about.

Rachel had already filed for divorce and for full custody of Grace, which hurt more than her original betrayal. He could survive the divorce but he didn't know if he was strong enough to survive her taking away Grace. There were days after cases where the only thing that held the nightmares at bay was his little girl's smiling face, the smell of her hair when he leaned down to kiss her goodnight, the bright tinkling sound of her laughter when she was playing. He couldn't lose her; lose that feeling she had placed permanently in his heart, which sang through his blood every time he saw his Gracie. Danny would fight for her, fight to keep her with him rather than with her mother.

Matt had found him the name of a good lawyer the moment he had heard about Rachel's affair, and Danny had gone to talk to the lawyer already about options. It would take a hell of a lot of money but Danny wasn't willing to lose his little girl to Rachel. He was a good man and if he had to drag Rachel through the mud and air every secret either of them had in order to keep his little girl he would do it without hesitation. Danny knew that this was going to be a hard battle to win, judges preferred to keep children with their mothers if at all possible, and Rachel was bound to bring up Danny's job as a cop and the long hours and dangers it meant as well. That could be a strike against him, but Danny could point out that Rachel's hours were hardly any better. She was up before Danny, before her daughter and only arrived home two hours before dinner, after Grace had been picked up from school by Danny's mother or sisters. She came home and Grace more often than not had already had dinner with one of Danny's family, and on the nights she hadn't Rachel just ordered out rather than being bothered to actually cook a meal for their daughter.

Danny was up every morning making Grace breakfast and taking her to school. He was there to help her with homework even on nights when he was running on less than four hours of sleep, or was under pressure from the chief to solve his latest case ASAP, or was under pressure from Katie to get his next book done. He cut out of work at the drop of a hat for his little girl, picking her up from school when she was sick, taking her to softball, gymnastics and swimming lessons as often as possible, which was more than Rachel did. She always had a reason to not be there when Grace wanted her, when she should be there. Danny had always hated that. Hated that Rachel's job was so much more important than their family. He hated it even more now that she was claiming that was the reason she wanted a divorce and their daughter full time. Danny knew she loved Grace in her own way but he also knew Rachel saw Grace as another tool to raise her status at work. Rachel wanted to be a partner in the law firm she was working at and since the current partners were big on family Rachel love to drag out Grace at every opportunity to show off her family. Danny hated it. Hated how fake it felt, but he had been able to ignore it for years because he had told himself that Rachel was doing it so that she could make partner and so that they could afford a better home for their family, a better school for Grace. Not that anything was wrong with the school she went to. It wasn't a private school but its academic records were some of the best

As it had years before, the overwhelming emotions that plagued his mind forced him again to write, and to write feverishly. He had barley slept since he walked in on Rachel and the man whore, who he learned was a big shot land broker for some corporation that built expensive hotels around the world and was a client of Rachel's at the law firm. Stan. He hated that now and loathed the man for forcing his way into Danny's family and ripping it away from him. He hated the man almost as much as he hated Rachel, and if the two of them found themselves being pulled over and ticketed more often than ever before, well, it was just punishment in Danny's mind.

So Rachel and Stan were being punished for him by his fellow Newark Police Department officers, and in the literary world they were being put through the shredder in his novels. He didn't know how the fans or the publishing company was going to take the newest book. He had been half way through the book when he had walked in on Rachel and that event had altered the course of the new novel. He couldn't help but have the character Will, who was based on himself, walk in on his own wife while she was cheating on him. But in the book it wasn't just some real estate cad but a vampire whose kiss Danny was now planning to link to the paranormal mafia. So Danny wrote and wrote, until his eyes felt like they were bleeding and by the end of the book there was still no resolution between Will, his wife and her lover. Will and his partner had taken down the villain but had been unable to touch the mafia or Stan's kiss. The evidence wasn't there and the readers were left on the hook until the next book. Now that he had finished this book he didn't know if he could do it again. He didn't know if he had anything left in him to get up and go to work, to take care of Grace and then go back to writing again. He felt exhausted and blank as if everything he was had been ripped away, all traces of his identity bleached from his very bones.

"Danny," her voice was softer, gentler than Danny had heard in years. He wanted to yell at Katie not to tiptoe around him but he couldn't muster the energy. Grace was fast asleep on his chest, her stuffed bear clutched almost desperately in one arm, and Danny was of the opinion that they never had to move from this spot. He felt calm for the first time in days, maybe even weeks. He wasn't sure any more how long it had been since Rachel had walked out on their marriage.

"Hey," Katie's voice was still gentle but for the first time in days he realized that he didn't hear pity in her voice, just calm acceptance. "I brought you some homemade chicken and noodle soup. I even used Grandma's recipe and handmade the noodles like you like. So I expect you to eat at least two bowls tonight."

Katie leaned down, and placed a kiss on his forehead, her hand reaching out to stroke back through his hair. Danny sighed and leaned into her touch. Out of all his younger siblings Katie had been the easiest to get along with. She had always been so calm and had a way about her that had soothed away whatever emotion had taken him over. It made sense that the others had elected her to visit him. They knew that she would be able to drag him out of a funk just like they knew Matt would be the only one who could force him to let loose the emotions so that Katie could swoop in and mend him back up. There had been a string of long nights with Matt already and apparently now it was his sister's turn.

"Thanks."

Katie smiled and walked out of the small living room to the back of the house where the kitchen was. "Don't thank me yet, Danno. There's still a long road ahead."

Danny winched at the words but relaxed when he heard the sounds of her moving through his kitchen, pulling out bowls and silverware. Making dinner for the three of them.

"Wake Grace up and the two of you go wash your hands. We'll have dinner and if you're good I'll even tell you about what the other editors think of the new book," she called out from the kitchen.

"Fine." Danny gently shook Grace's shoulder, smiling a little at the way her nose scrunched up as she woke up. "Time to get up, monkey. Auntie Katie brought over Grandma's super secret chicken soup."

"Auntie Kat!" Grace crawled off Danny and went running back to the kitchen.

Danny smiled again, though it didn't reach his eyes. Things might never go back to how they were before, to that feeling that everything was on the verge of being perfect, but unless he lost custody, Danny didn't think things could get worse. His family was still here for him, still loved him even if his wife didn't anymore.

Getting up Danny followed his daughter into the kitchen were his baby sister berated him for not washing up when he swooped in to steal an already filled bowl of soup.

- - - H50 - - -

**December 2007; Newark, New Jersey**

The divorce lasted months and was one of the most cut throat things he had ever been a part of, and he had worked on several cases involving Frank Salvo and the local mob. He felt like he'd gone twenty round with Muhammad Ali by the end of it and he knew that there were more people in the world who knew all his dirty secrets and the not so dirty secrets. He was just glad that the Judge was willing to speak with him in chambers where the truth about Danny's secret authorship could be kept out of the public records. He didn't want people to know that he is W.J. Daniels and that he had more money than what he appeared to have as a Detective. He didn't want them to look at him any differently than they already did. He liked being a detective. He liked helping people and if they knew he had any kind of money, that he was a writer, he was afraid that they would only like him for the things he could get them. That they would try to use him and that he would be trapped in a place where he couldn't tell if people really liked him or if they just liked his money and reputation.

If Rachel had known he was a writer, that he had more than enough money to buy them a big house in the country or a top notch apartment on Park Avenue, he knew she would have demanded at least half of his income as a writer as alimony and the other half for child support. As it stood Rachel didn't know and he lucked out and got a judge who didn't take too kindly to cheating wives. He found out later that the original judge he was scheduled to have was a stickler for leaving kids in sole custody of the mother unless she was a drug addict or convicted pedophile. Danny didn't know why the judges were changed but he thanked God for it the moment he was out of the courthouse and decided that he'd make sure to write the judge into the next book, if he ever got his muse back.

He had tried starting the new book several times since the last book was approved. He was still waiting on the cover art and the first printing that would be sent to different reviewers before its "first run" was printed and sold to the fans. He didn't know if it was the waiting or the relief that this whole ordeal was over that was keeping him from being able to write but whatever it was it was driving his sister nuts. She called him almost daily asking if he had managed to write anything new and all he could do was apologize because no matter how much he wanted to write the ending, where Will got to keep his daughter and he and his partner caught the vampires and the mob guys red-handed, he couldn't work up the energy to write the beginning where Will was going through the torture that Danny had just finished. He didn't want to try dredging up the memory of those months spent in a nightmare of not knowing what would happen to Grace, of his feelings being torn open and spread bloody before strangers. His divorce was still a raw bleeding wound on his psyche and he didn't feel strong enough to go back to that place. Matt had spent a month drinking with him until Danny just passed out, unable to relax enough to sleep otherwise. A month of booze and a case load that rose higher and higher as it became harder and harder to focus on anything other than the chance that he might lose Grace.

It was a horror he didn't want to contemplate. This future where he lost Grace to Rachel and her new fiancé, Stan Edwards. He fears what kind of person he would have become in this future without his daughter. Would he have still been a cop? Would he have become an alcoholic? Would he have chased after Rachel as she tried to run off to some other part of the world just to spite him?

He had to force those thoughts away over and over because that wasn't his future. He didn't have to be that guy. The pathetic broken man whose life revolved around following after an ex-wife who hated him just on the off chance she would let him see his daughter one day out of the month. Grace was his now, his to care for permanently and maybe Rachel would want to be a part of her life like she said in the courtroom, her coworkers sitting at her side to defend her before the judge.

He wanted to think he was a good enough man that he would let Rachel see Grace whenever she wanted, but the twisted, broken part of him she had left bleeding to death in their bedroom demanded that he grab Grace and just run. Run and run until Rachel was too far away to follow. Too far away to hurt either of them anymore. So when Matt and Katie suggested that he take a vacation, that he go some place far away, somewhere sunny and warm and so different than Jersey that he wouldn't be able to think about Rachel, he had eagerly booked the first tickets he could find leaving Jersey. So for a week after Christmas Grace and him had been in LA going to Disneyland and driving along the coast to Sea World and then to the Queen Mary, before hopping another plane and flying across the ocean to Hawaii.

Danny had never really thought about going to Hawaii before. As a kid if asked he would have just shrugged and pointed out that New Jersey had a beach as well, so what was the point in flying halfway across the world just to sit on someone else's sand? Now though all he could think was that it was as far away from Rachel as he could get without leaving the country. And that…that made it the most appealing place on the planet as far as Danny was concerned. Danny could learn to deal with the sand getting into uncomfortable places. He could deal with the overly bright and wildly patterned shirts and the fact that people seemed to whip their clothes off at the slightest pretense of a beach or a wave they could ride. He could even deal with the overtly hostile glares the locals gave him whenever he opened his mouth.

He could deal with it. Right?


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**January 2008, Honolulu, Hawaii**

Danny had only planed to spend at most a week in Hawaii because really… Sand. Was. Everywhere. But also because Grace still had school she needed to get back to. But that wasn't what happened. He took Grace to the beach where she saw a baby seal, which was apparently the coolest thing ever. A marine biologist who had been there had spent the next two hours telling Grace all about Monk Seals and their importance in the local ecosystem and the traditional Hawaiian culture. Grace had been enraptured and had demanded to stay longer and before Danny knew it two weeks had passed and now he was out looking for a house to rent and a school that Grace could finish off the year in. This had not been the plan. But screw the plan. His little girl was happy for the first time since the divorce and he didn't feel as if the world was closing in on him, just waiting to crush him. Rachel was still on the eastern seaboard somewhere with Stan, doing who knows what and that was perfect for him. He didn't want to be anywhere near her even if it meant he missed his family. Maybe when he didn't feel quite as broken they could live on the same side of the country again, but for now this might work.

The front desk at his hotel had been kind enough to recommend a real estate agent who could show him some nice rental properties and things were starting again. The young woman he met was a pretty little Asian woman, Kalakaua something or other. She had been kind enough not to tease him too badly about mispronouncing her name and for that Danny was grateful. She was a little chatterbox full of good will and even more excited when she found out he was a cop. Apparently most of her family were either cops, paramedics or coast guard, so she had been happy to find some great places for him on a good budget. After seeing the first three he had let her know that she could look at a higher price as he had inherited some money from an Uncle that he wasn't using. At that she had asked if he would rather do a rent to own option because she knew a place right on the beach that was available. It was apparently in a good neighborhood and his closest neighbor would also be a cop. She had even revealed that one of her many cousins had been the mans partner years ago and that she thought he must be a little lonely out there with his kids gone off to the mainland and his wife passed away.

Danny had reluctantly agreed to look the place over.

Ms. Kalakaua had gone on at length about the house, describing it's history and the family that had lived there for years and how the kids had grown up and moved out and the parents had moved off to Kauai to retire but hadn't been able to sell their home yet, prices being what they were. A house on the beach, even an old one in need of a bit of work was still out of the price range for most people. Danny had worried about that for a bit, wondering if he could afford it, even with the money saved up from the last few books. But he wasn't willing to worry too much over it until he saw the place. It could be a dive after all…Right?

Wrong.

The place was perfect.

That was Danny's first thought on seeing the place. It was larger than just Grace and he would need, but it was stunning. It was two stories tall, surrounded by large flowering plants and trees. There was a covered deck at the front of the house that looked like a perfect spot to sit and enjoy the view and ocean breeze that seemed to circle around the house. There was a gated front yard perfect for Grace to play in with their dog Ozzy, while Danny could watch her. The front of the house had a nice large room looking out over the yard through a big window, and Danny was sure it would make a great office for him. He could sit in there and write and still be able to watch Grace.

"It's beautiful," Danny murmured as Ms. Kalakaua took them up the steps to the front door.

"It's is. The house has good bones and most of the issues are just basic things you could fix on your own, like repainting. There are only a few issues where you might need to hire someone. I would suggest thinking about replacing the windows as they are pretty old and the seals on them are starting to thin and there are a couple spots where the roofing needs to be replaced, but over all the house is in excellent condition."

"That's good to hear." Danny nodded and lightly pushed Grace into the house behind the realtor.

"The bottom floor has one guest bedroom with a full bath, along with the kitchen, dinning room, living room, a half bath and the front parlor which you could use as an office. There is also a small laundry room just off the dinning room. It's a bit of an odd placement but it was something they added in after a renovation about a decade back. The half bath is just off the hall between the dinning room and the study."

Danny nodded and looked back over the front yard from where they stood on the lanai. It really was very beautiful. The large flowering plants and trees made for a nice barrier between the road and the house, hiding the place just a bit, from the view of passers by.

"Upstairs there are three small bedrooms with a shared bath and the master suite with it's own attached bath."

Danny whistled in surprise. He wasn't sure they really needed that much space, but if the family came out to visit it might be nice to have. He did have Matty, Katie and their two other sisters and their families as well. He doubted all of them could afford to come out for each holiday but maybe they could make it out for Christmas at least. The warm weather would do his Mother some good.

"It's certainly got space," Danny said as they stepped into the front hall. It was nice and wide, opening up to the stairs leading up to the second floor and off to the right Danny could see the entrance to the parlor he could use as an office and the hall leading down to the back of the house. Off to his left he could see a smaller hall leading to what he assumed was the guest room. "You said it had laundry as well?"

"Oh yes, just down the hall past the study and through the doorway on the right. That will go into the dinning room, which will have the door leading into the laundry room. There is also a trap door in the laundry that leads to a small panic room that was built after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, that the previous owners were using for storage. Originally it was meant to be a bomb shelter."

"I'm guessing the laundry was placed in the entrance to the bomb shelter for convenience?"

"Yes. Originally the laundry room was in the area where the guest bedroom and bath is. That space used to be a formal living room with a small bath and then the laundry between it and the family room."

Danny nodded and followed her through the lower level, looking over the rooms and trying not to sigh. The house was expensive but so far it was also everything Danny could want in a home, other than the fact it was on an island in the middle of the ocean, on the opposite side of the country from his family. Still, he could fly them out for the holidays. His parents could have the room down here and the rest of the adults could fight over the guest room upstairs or stay in a hotel. The kitchen was a dream; his mother would have fits of ecstasy if she saw it and Danny could certainly picture her in there with his sisters cooking up a feast. There was a private beach on the property as well and Danny was pleased to note you could see it from both the living room and the kitchen, making for easy monitoring of the kids.

The upstairs bedrooms were also something he wasn't used to. Space came at a premium living in a big city like New York and even in Newark. The home Rachel and he had owned had been easily half the size of this house, and the rooms were much smaller. Here each bedroom upstairs was large with a good sized closet, the master's even being a true walk-in with an installed wooden shelving system that had (thank you God) a spinning tie rack. He was still waiting for another shoe to drop because a house this nice shouldn't be as low a cost as what it was, especially since it was on the ocean. It should have been easily over a million but the owners were only asking a little over half of what Danny figured it should cost.

"Oh, that," Ms. Kalakaua waved it off when he asked, smiling at him. "The owners said they wanted a lower rate so that people with a family could afford a home like this. They don't particularly like how expensive it is for people to own homes here anymore and they said they still had enough money to live comfortably, so they didn't see the point in asking for more than what they thought was reasonable. It's a great deal, really. Their only stipulation was that it go to a family."

"Wow. That's just…wow. And they're sure?"

She laughed, a warm honey sweet sound that had Danny smiling automatically. "They're sure. I sent them some information about you and Grace and they said they would be more than happy to let you buy it if you were interested."

"I'm interested. Yeah."

"Good. I'll have papers drawn up." She smiled at him again. "Feel free to keep looking around and I'll just step out to make the call for you."

"Thanks." Danny ran his hands back along the side of his head, fixing his hair. "What do you think, Monkey? Does this feel like home?"

Grace looked up from where she was gazing out the window at the ocean in the backyard. "Yeah! Are we gonna live here now, Danno?"

"I think so, Monkey." Danny smiled at his daughter and tugged playfully on her pigtails, making her whine and dance away from him. His smile broadened as he watched her. "Which room did you want to sleep in?"

"The big one with the giant bathroom!"

Danny chuckled. "Well, I think I'm gonna have to pull rank on you and take that one myself."

"No fair! It had a door to the balcony."

"So did the right corner bedroom," Danny pointed out. "Why don't we set you up there and then when you get older if you want you can have the room at the front corner of the house. It's a bit bigger."

Grace sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and twirled her finger through one of her pigtails. "Okay."

"Alright. Once the house is ours how about we go looking for a new bedroom set for you? Grandma gave your old furniture to your cousin Caitlyn once I told her we were going to look at houses out here."

- - - H50 - - -

**Three Days Later, 2727 Piikoi Street; Oahu**

John McGarrett had been watching the stocky blond man and his little girl moving about his neighbor's house for about two hours already. He knew they bought the house from George Kaapana and his wife, Hanna. He had since found out the man was divorced. That his name was Daniel Williams and that he was a cop from New Jersey. What he didn't know was how a cop from New Jersey could afford to rent-to-own a house on the beach in Oahu, even if George and Hanna had sold it at a ridiculously low price. He was going to find out though. He couldn't risk that the man might be a spy for one of the various criminal organizations he'd pissed off in his many years on the force.

He had enemies. Too many of them, it seemed, and he wasn't willing to risk one of them finding out how close he was to getting all the proof he needed to take down the Yakuza and their inside men in HPD, the Governor's Office and several other important positions throughout the state. All he needed were a few more months, maybe a couple years at most if the whispers about the Chinese boogieman, Wo Fat, were real.

Hearing his burn phone ring, John set his binoculars down and moved away from the window in Mary's old room, that looked over the trees into the neighboring yard. "What have you got for me?"

On the other end of the line was perhaps the only active cop in the HPD that he could trust. Even though he knew Meka Hanamoa, had trained him like he had trained Chin Ho all those years ago, he was worried to trust him too much. He was too paranoid, but right now he didn't think he was wrong to be paranoid.

"Daniel Williams is an active Detective with the Newark PD. Recently divorced and retaining primary custody of his daughter, Grace Williams, age 7. His Commanding Officer had nothing but good things to say. The guy has one hell of an arrest record. It's insane. Something like 65 closed cases since becoming a Detective."

John arched an eyebrow at that and listened as Meka flipped through some papers on the other line.

"Okay. Uh, he has one younger brother. Named Matthew, works on Wallstreet. Three younger sisters. The oldest is named Katherine, aged 27, single and working as an editor for a pretty big publishing company. The other two sisters are twins. Identical. Names are Bethany and Maria. Both have just turned twenty and are currently in college. Uh, his father is Frank Williams, a retired Fireman. Looks like he was also in the Navy up until the oldest daughter was born in '83. Mother is Margaret Williams, who is a retired Nurse. She still volunteers at the hospital and works part time as a travel agent in a small company owned by her sister-in-law."

"Anything on the ex-wife?"

"Yeah. She's a British citizen. Name is Rachel, maiden name is Morrison. She's a lawyer for a firm in New York. From what I could find, the devoice was nasty. Accusations were being tossed about on both sides. Detective Williams claimed he walked in on her having sex with another man, a Stan Edwards. Looks like the ex-wife was getting serious with the guy to. Rumors are that he proposed, but I can't find any confirmation of that. I talked with some people, found out the guy didn't know Ms. Morrison was married and actually tried to apologize to Detective Williams when he found out."

"How did Williams get custody of the daughter," wondered John. That wasn't something that usually happened.

"Don't know. I did find out that he spoke with the Judge in private during the custody hearing. I'm waiting to hear back from the Judge. Thought I'd see if he'd be willing to shed some light on the matter."

"Good. Let me know if you hear back."

"Got it."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah." There was a long pause over the line before Meka let out a long sigh. "Williams first partner was dirty. IA cleared Williams. And Williams actually testified against his former partner. Apparently IA didn't have much of anything on the partner until Detective Williams contacted them."

"Hmm. Alright. Keep me updated." John ended the call and dropped the cell on the bed, turning to gaze back out the window at his new neighbor. This answered a lot of his questions, but also brought up so many more. Plus it didn't answer where the younger Detective got the money to get the house next door.

- - - H50 - - -

**2725 Piikoi Street; Oahu**

Danny was happy with the new house. He knew it was going to take a lot of work to fix the house back up, but he was sure in the end it would be worth it. Grace seemed to love it here, she loved the beach, she loved the people, and she loved the animals. Hawaii was not New Jersey. He knew that, he knew so much was going to be different. That wasn't going to stop him. The only thing that mattered right now was his daughter, was Grace. As long as she was happy he would be happy. Danny would just have to get used to not living in a large city. He could live without concrete, skyscrapers, thick blankets of smog, cabbies that spoke little to no understandable English, and all the sounds and scents of the large city that he'd grown up then. He would just have to find a way to love Hawaii is well.

He would worry about that tomorrow though. Tomorrow he could start trying to find reasons to like Hawaii. He could try to not think about all the fruit on the pizzas, he would try not to think about the constant sun, he would try not to think about all the people wandering around in short shorts and tank tops, or the possibilities of tsunamis. He would try not to think about everything about Hawaii that wasn't New Jersey. Instead he would think about his new house. He would think about all the work he still had to do to make it the home that he knew Grace needed to have. Tomorrow they would start by going out to buy some paint. They would need to repaint both the walls inside and the outside of the house. Once they had gotten the paint, they would go looking for a window shop where they could get some replacement windows for the ones that were currently rotting away in their frames in the walls.

Danny looked around at the boxes stacked everywhere and winced. Maybe he would look into getting some new appliances for the kitchen as well. The stove didn't look like it had been updated since the late 70's. And he wasn't a fan of tile floors in the kitchen. He spent too much time cooking when he wasn't working and tile just hurt to stand on after more than a few minutes. He could replace it with a nice hardwood, it wouldn't be too hard. He had spent the summer between college classes working construction with his Uncle. He knew what to do and it would save some money to do it himself.

"Daddy," Grace called the living room. "I'm hungry!"

"Alright, Monkey. Hold your horses. We'll get something to eat soon. Just let me finish unpacking this box first."

"Okay," Grace called out.

Danny smiled and pulled out some Italian salami his Mother had mailed to them from the butcher down the street from her home, getting everything ready to start slicing it up only to look up from the counter at the sound of the back screen door slamming closed as Grace raced outside in her pink swimsuit. Danny rapped his knuckles against the kitchen window until she turned around to look at him. Once he was sure she wouldn't go in deeper than her ankles while he was inside, Danny went back to making them some sandwiches and lemonade. Grace waved and ran the length of their beach, dancing out of the reach of the waves as they rolled in. The sound of her joyful, carefree laughter brought a smile to his face.

Danny moved the salami to the side and picked up the block of cheese, setting it on the carving board. A couple slices for his sandwich and then all that would be left to add would be some of the deli sliced turkey he had bought at the market in town and a large piece of lettuce for Grace's sandwich. They were fairly basic sandwiches but it was something familiar in this unfamiliar land. It would, hopefully make the transition from life in New Jersey to life in Honolulu, easier. Easier for whom was the question he didn't want to ask himself because the answer was fairly obvious.

A pained yell from outside had Danny dropping the knife he had been using to cut the crust off of Grace's sandwich. He ran toward the sliding door, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he caught sight of Grace sitting in the sand crying as a strange man stood, looming over her. Wishing he had grabbed his gun, Danny ran off the back lanai and into the sand yelling out, "Grace!"

The man looked up, his lined face taking in the sight of Danny charging at him. The part of his mind not focused on Grace was mildly impressed that the man didn't seem worried about Danny.

Danny slide to a stop in the sand pushing between Grace and the stranger. "Who're you," demanded Danny.

The older man arched an eyebrow at him and let a slow small smile spread across his face. "I'm your neighbor, Detective McGarrett."

"And I should believe that why?"

Slowly the man reached into his back pocket and pulled out his ID. Flipping it open he waited as Danny looked over the badge and the photo ID confirming his words. Danny nodded but still watched him warily.

"Grace, babe, you okay."

Grace sniffed and pressed her face into his leg, little hands gripping the fabric of his pants. "I got sting'd, Danno."

Glancing down at his daughter, Danny took in her appearance; carefully checking her over for any signs the Detective being there wasn't kosher. "Where, monkey?"

"My foot." Grace sniffles and lifted her foot up towards him. "It hurts."

"Jellyfish sting, from the looks of it. Doesn't happen often," Detective McGarrett commented.

"You know this how?"

"My son got stung once while swimming. It's painful but treatable." Detective McGarrett nodded his head towards his house. "I should have something to help with that?"

Danny and the Detective watched each other, a silent battle of wills taking place before Danny nodded. He would trust the man. For now.

Picking up Grace, he followed the other man along the edge of the beach, ignoring the way the waves lapped at his loafers. The house next door was an older model two-story home. It white paint was tinged with age and in need of a fresh coat of paint, but otherwise the house looked to be in good condition. The man, Detective McGarrett walked into the house through the open sliding glass door, leading Danny through what looked to be an overly cluttered office space to where his dinning room table was. Looking up at Danny he pulled out one of the chairs for Danny to sit down, Grace still hanging onto Danny, her face pressed into his neck as she cried.

"I just need to step into the kitchen. I'll be right back."

Danny nodded, feeling a bit more relaxed about the man but still not willing to drop his guard just yet.

Detective McGarrett returned quickly enough with a small yellow plastic tub and a large bottle of vinegar. He set the tub on the ground by Danny's feet and opened the bottle, carefully pouring a good amount of it into the tub. "It's the best thing for a jellyfish sting." He looked up at Grace and smiled gently. "I know it's smelly but it will make it stop hurting. Can you be a brave girl for your Daddy and I, and put your little foot in the vinegar for me."

Grace sniffled and loosened her hold on Danny. Glancing at the yellow tub and then at her Dad, Grace nodded and scooted down, letting Danny stand so she could sit in the chair on her own. She scrunched up her nose as her foot dipped into the vinegar. "It's cold."

"I know, keiki, but it helps. I promise." Detective McGarrett smiled at her again and stood up from where he had been crouching by her feet. "She should keep her foot in that for at least half an hour. I'm going to go upstairs and get a tube of hydrocortisone cream to help with the itching and swelling afterwards and we should call for an ambulance-"

"What," Danny whispered, panicked at the mention of needing an ambulance.

"We need to make sure it wasn't something as dangerous as a box jellyfish. Plus they can make sure she isn't having any allergic reactions." Detective McGarrett squeezed Danny's shoulder gently, waiting for Danny's panic to subside. "She'll be fine and by this time next week she'll be back to running around on the beach."

Danny snorted. "She's not getting within ten feet of the water if I have any say in it."

The older detective chuckled and turned to go upstairs, leaving Danny and Grace alone in his dinning room. Danny watched him leave and couldn't help but to look around. His Mother would call it snooping, but Danny would just smirk and tell her he came across the tendency to snoop naturally. His Mother was, after all, a very accomplished snooper.

Danny leaned down and gave Grace a quick kiss to her forehead before walking over towards the wall. There were quite a few pictures in the room besides the painting on the wall, which Danny assumed, butted up against the kitchen. All of the pictures seemed out of date though. There were several of Detective McGarrett and who Danny guessed was his son, another group of nearby photos showed a lovely woman laughing, hanging up laundry on a line on the beach behind the house and again of the woman holding a baby or playing dolls with a young girl. They looked like a very happy family but Danny couldn't help but wonder why the only photos here were so old. Based on the other mans appearance, these photos were at the very least a decade out of date, if not older. He supposed that there might be more recent photos in other rooms of the house, but it still struck Danny as odd.

Danny was just stepping away from the only picture of the family all together when Detective McGarrett came back. Danny blushed but didn't apologize for looking at the photos. They were out in the open on the walls and on the hutch right where anyone could see. If he had riffled through all the papers stacked on the desk in the other room that would be different.

"That's my late wife, Doris and our two kids, Steve and Mary." Detective McGarrett looked over at the picture Danny had just been looking at. His gaze was full of old grief, lounging and even a little pride. "My boy, Steve, he'd be about your age now. He was quite the football player in High School. Broke a bunch of records that none of the kids since have been able to match."

"Does he still play," Danny asked, quietly wondering if he had seen the boy play in any professional league games.

"Not since his Mother died." A long stretch of uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

"Is he a cop like you," Grace asked; tear reddened eyes watching the two men.

"No. He a SEAL."

Grace looked at him like he was crazy, making him smile even wider. "How can he be a seal? Is he a Selkie like in Grammies stories?"

For the first time since meeting him, Danny saw the older a true smile stretch across his face before he burst out with a deep rumbling laugh. "Oh, keiki, no, he's not a Selkie. He's a SEAL. It's a special unit in the Navy that does the extra special dangerous missions."

"Oh. Do you miss him?"

"Every day."

Grace wiggled in her seat, glancing down at her foot in the vinegar bath and back up at her father and Detective McGarrett. Danny could see her little brain trying to decide if she could get up yet and offer their new neighbor a hug. She was just that kind of girl. So sweet hearted and empathetic towards others. It used to make him worry for her because she was so friendly and trusting that she used to talk to everyone and anyone. There was a stretch of two years where he was always on the edge of his seat waiting for someone to call to say a stranger she went up to had taken Grace. Fortunately that never happened and Grace proved to be an excellent judge of character and had listened to him when he told her not to talk to strangers unless Mommy or her Danno said it was okay.

Danny smiled at his daughter and ruffled her hair until she batted his hand away. When he turned back to face Detective McGarrett he was surprised to see the man was heading to the front of the house, moving to look out the window.

"The ambulance is here," he called out. "I'll let them in."

"Thanks," Danny called out.

Several minutes later found Danny and Detective McGarrett, John, sitting by Danny and Grace as the paramedic handed her a lollipop.

"She'll be fine. You should keep an eye on it and you'll need to use ice packs or over-the-counter pain relievers for welts. You should also clean the open sores 3 times a day and apply antibiotic ointment. This will prevent any infections, but it's doubtful that is even a concern for her. She's young and healthy so she'll jump back in no time, brah." Closing up his medical kit, the paramedic smiled at Grace, said his goodbyes and headed out.

"Thanks man," Danny said looking over at John. "Really. I wouldn't have had a clue what do.

John nodded. "What else are neighbors for?"

- - - H50 - - -

**Later That Night, 2727 Piikoi Street; Oahu**

John was again sitting on his daughter's old bed, watching his neighbors through his binoculars when Meka walked in with Chin Ho. The fact that Meka had brought Chin over was a little startling. Meka didn't nessesarily believe that Chin was dirty, had in fact spoken out that if IA couldn't find anything more than ghosts then the rest of the department should give him a chance, but IA had just hung too heavy of a shadow of doubt over Chin for anyone else to take Chin's words of innocence as truth. There were days that John was sure that Meka might not even speak with Chin if John hadn't trained them both. Meka had a lot of faith in him and John worried about that. He needed Meka's assistance to figure out the puzzle of his wife's murder, the involvement of the Yakuza and who Shelbourne and Wo Fat really were. The downside was that if he let Meka in on what he was working on then Meka, his wife and their little boy would be in danger. There was already a chance that Meka was targeted and so was Chin. John wasn't sure but he thought that Chin's being targeted by IA may have been a sideeffect of John's unauthorized case. Chin didn't believe that though, had in fact told John he knew who took the money. When John had asked him why he didn't just tell IA, Chin had told him he wasn't wiling to do so, that getting his job back wasn't worth what it would cost the other man.

"Still at it then," asked Meka as he leaned against Mary's old desk.

John hummed and looked back through the window. He wasn't willing to just believe the other Detective wasn't a threat even if they had already met face to face. He had o be certain.

Meka sighed and waved his hand at Chin, obviously passing the job of trying to convice John that he was too paranoid, over to the older more experienced partner.

"John, are you certain this is nessesary? From what Mek tells me you've already found, it doesn't appear like the guy is any danger to you. For God's sake, he brought his daughter. Do you think any man would willing put his daughter in the line of danger just to get to you?"

"He could. There are men out there that would put a child in danger just to get a shot at me."

"And you think this guy," Chin waved his hand in the general direction of the house next door. "This guy, who was a cop, whose father was a firefighter, whose mother was a nurse, whose grandfathers were cops, would put his daughter at risk just to get you?"

Chin sighed and moved to sit down next to John on the bed. "John, you've already lost Doris to this, and you're losing Steve and Mary Ann because you pushed them away. If you keep going after this like an enraged bull you're going to miss their entire lives, you're going to miss the chance at meeting the people they love, at future spouses and grandchildren. Is it worth it? Is losing your family really worth this? I know you loved Doris, but you can't spend the rest of your life swallowed up by grief and guilt. You didn't kill her. The Yakuza did."

"Please leave, Chin. You aren't needed here."

Chin sat still just watching him for a moment before standing and striding towards the door. "I lost my entire family, John. They may still be alive but I'm as good as dead to them and let me tell you that that feeling kills me a little everyday. Don't keep your kids feelig like that for much longer or if you ever finish this quest for vengence you might just find they won't accept you back in their lives."

Meka watched Chin leave, swallowing back the emotions burning in his gut. He knew he had been right to call the older Detective, he just hoped that Chin's words would burn their way through the fog of vengence that seemed to be clouding John's mind. He wanted to know the man that some of the older men on the force still talked about, he was tired of knowing a ghost of a man.

Not sure what he could say that might make John realize all he had lost and was going to lose, Meka walked away from the desk, resting his arm lightly on John's shoulder for a moment, before turning and following Chin out of the house. Leaving John sitting alone in the dark, watching the neighbors and pondering the possibilities of attack.


End file.
